College of Business Enhancing Courses with Variety of Guest Lecturers

The College of Business Administration faculty has been hard at work this semester to be involved with activities that will benefit students and improve their personal professional development.

Dr. Lisa Williams, assistant professor of management, had a myriad of speakers from Ingram Micro come to her management and human resources classes this semester. Jeff Streb, senior director of human resources at Ingram Micro, presented on compensation systems and the importance of compensation management to an organization. He focused on issues such as how systems are developed and the importance of partnering with management to increase system effectiveness and used “real-life” examples to illustrate how compensation systems are developed and support organizational goals.

Jennifer Catleugh, a recruiter from Ingram Micro, provided information about the company, the recruiting process and what recruiters are looking for in job candidates. Kim Brostko, senior human resources business partner at Ingram Micro, discussed performance management and focused on topics such as the purpose of evaluations, the calibration process and key outcomes. Under the direction of Jeff Streb, Ingram Micro is developing a partnership with Niagara University and the College of Business Administration.

This semester, through the aid of Dr. Williams, the faculty advisor for the Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM), and Mike Skowronski, corporate relations director in Career Services at Niagara, a Meet the Professionals Night was sponsored by the Greater Niagara Human Resource Association (GNHRA). Local professionals from Goodyear, the New York State Power Authority, Norampac, Olin, and SIHI Pumps discussed careers in human resource management, focusing on career paths that can be achieved through HR, specialization within HR, managing an HR career and their own experiences. The presentation was followed by a question-and-answer session and networking opportunities.

Dr. Jay Walker has been involved with the National Association of Parts Manufacturers-Buffalo (NAPM), an organization whose mission is to advance the purchasing profession through high ethical standards of conduct and fairness and to encourage the social and educational opportunities of its members to be effective as possible in their profession. Dr. Walker has been generating reports for NAPM since December, which consists of pulling data from surveys of local manufacturing companies and using the information to generate the report. Since this is the Buffalo chapter of NAPM, it is a local version of the report, though the same questions as the national survey are used. These reports are useful because they give companies a measure of how much manufacturing is going on and whether it is trending up or down.

The latest report was summarized in the Buffalo News but can also be found on Dr. Walker’s website. If this wasn’t enough, he also presented a co-authored paper with Wes Routon, Student-Athletes? The Effects of College Sports on Collegiate Outcomes, in a seminar at the University of Memphis in Memphis, Tenn., in March and at the Midwestern Economics Association Conference meetings in Columbus, Ohio, also in March. Also, he presented a co-authored paper with Dr. Anna McNab and Wes Routon, For Love or Money? Altruistic Value Formation in College, at the Business Research Consortium of Western New York in Buffalo, N.Y., in April.

Dr. Jim Kling, associate professor of management and academic director of the Center for Supply Chain Excellence, and Jack Ampuja, director of the Center for Supply Chain Excellence, arranged a focus group with Dr. Alan Saipe of Supply Chain Surveys Inc. through the Center for Supply Chain Excellence at Niagara University. The center organized and hosted a portion of a Canadian government research project led by Saipe on assessing the state of e-commerce business activity in Canada. At Niagara, the researchers met with American supply chain managers associated with e-commerce as a control group to help understand why Canadian firms are less likely to engage in e-commerce than businesses in other countries. By way of comparison, Canada’s e-Commerce makes up 3 percent of the country’s retail sales while the U.S. is at 6 percent, the United Kingdom at 13 percent and Germany at 15 percent.

Dr. Kristine Principe brought in a group of six executives to speak to her Financial and Managerial Accounting in Healthcare Organizations class this semester. These executives are a part of the healthcare industry and gave an overview of initiatives in Western New York regarding population health. Vicky Landers is the new director of the Medicaid Health Home initiative at Niagara Falls Memorial Medical Center. Michele Brooks, coordinator of New York State Healthy Mom and Baby Program in Western New York, referenced the role of case workers. Ann Moretti, leader and coordinator of the Safety Net Association of Primary Care Affiliated Providers (SNAPCAP), discussed her work with SNAPCAP, which is a group of safety net primary care and hospital safety net providers in WNY that have collaborated to benefit the area in regard to low-income healthcare access and limited community resources. Niagara University’s own Dave Taylor, director of the Institute for Civic Engagement, presented on the work being done with the Niagara Falls Mayor’s task force along with what the Institute for Civic Engagement’s activities. Lastly, Carol Cassell, principal, strategy and performance improvement of the Healthcare Division at Freed Maxick CPA’s P.C. presented on the Community Health Foundation as well as her work with Medicaid reform in New Orleans. These presentations focused initiatives to improve community health were very informative and very beneficial for the students.

Dr. Lei Han invited Bev Junevic, an accountant at the Controller’s Office of Niagara University and occasional accounting adjunct, to her Government and Non-Profit Accounting class. Junevic introduced the basic types of nonprofit organizations and accounting methods. She shared both her 25 years of experience with nonprofit companies and working as an accountant at Niagara. In the Q-and-A session, students got to ask questions regarding the financial-related events on campus and Junevic shared her comments. Dr. Han stated, “This was the second time that Professor Junevic gave a presentation on nonprofit accounting for my class. Her decades of work experience in the field of nonprofit, her unique identity as the accountant of our university and her sense of humor made the presentation very relevant, insightful and enjoyable. We all learned a lot from the presentation.”

As faculty advisor for the Collegiate Entrepreneur Organization (CEO), Dr. McNab invited William Angus to speak to the club members. He presented on the importance of body language for success in the world of business and interactively taught the students. Dr. McNab also brought another interesting speaker to Niagara, Deborah Gondek, director of sustainability at Rich Products. This presentation, open to all Niagara students, was about sustainability, its importance and the steps she has helped Rich’s products to take towards a more sustainable business. Her presentation was very timely because sustainability is gaining much force in the business world, yet many businesses haven’t reaped the benefits of becoming more sustainable yet.

James Ingham, assistant professor of accounting, has also enhanced his lectures with guest speakers, including Elena Mendel, chief auditor, and Jordin Staschak, ’04, financial auditor of National Fuel Gas Company. Mendel and Staschak presented to auditing classes on internal controls, external auditor assistance, the major differences between public accounting and internal auditing, as well as their personal experiences with public accounting and internal audit. Ingham commended their presentation stating, “The presentation fell in the crosshairs of our course material, giving students direct reinforcement of the auditing concepts and the importance of learning them. I greatly appreciated the time they took to share their knowledge and experiences.”